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Nope. After that skin, it will still be a flyout menu. That is its distinguishing factor from other hundred replacements and isn't going to change because Vista/7 style restricts all programs to a too limited area for browsing with mouse.

I like Classic Shell very much and I use it a lot in my both Windows 7 and 8. I'm dissapointed to hear that there won't be non-cascading all programs and search, why not? True that cascading menus was distinguishing factor in Classic Shell - but it was before Windows 8 RTM. Now it's a good idea to bring back the functionality of non-cascading start menu. Why, because it's more compact and handy and saves desk space which is quite useful sometimes. Both search results as well as all programs list could take both panes of the start menu, left and right, this way it would give user enough space (almost as much as cascades do), and thus it would be different from the original 7 start menu.

Why do I prefer Classic Shell overall, because it's very stable, fast, and does the job.

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It's a good idea to bring back the functionality of non-cascading start menu. Why, because it's more compact and handy and saves desk space which is quite useful sometimes. Both search results as well as all programs list could take both panes of the start menu, left and right, this way it would give user enough space (almost as much as cascades do), and thus it would be different from the original 7 start menu.

Why do I prefer Classic Shell overall, because it's very stable, fast, and does the job.

Making Classic Shell more compact is easy. Make the menu single column from "Menu Look" tab. Reduce main menu width to 20, sub-menu width to 30. On my laptop, at just 1280 x 800, it takes up 1/3 (33%) of the screen. To make it further compact, check "Small icons" on the Skin tab. It can easily be made narrower than the Windows 7 Start Menu. The only space it takes more than the Windows 7 menu is the block indicated in red. I don't think that's too large a part of the screen. And that's just compared to default height of Windows 7 Start Menu. If you enable more items in your Windows 7 Start Menu, it can grow taller too. If this is not enough to make folks happy, then there is always Start8.

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Making Classic Shell more compact is easy. Make the menu single column from "Menu Look" tab. Reduce main menu width to 20, sub-menu width to 30. On my laptop, at just 1280 x 800, it takes up 1/3 (33%) of the screen. To make it further compact, check "Small icons" on the Skin tab. It can easily be made narrower than the Windows 7 Start Menu. The only space it takes more than the Windows 7 menu is the block indicated in red. I don't think that's too large a part of the screen. And that's just compared to default height of Windows 7 Start Menu. If you enable more items in your Windows 7 Start Menu, it can grow taller too. If this is not enough to make folks happy, then there is always Start8.

Thanks for your reply, @xpclient.

Still it would be great if clicking on 'All Programs' would expand to the entire start menu area instead of cascading, optionally, like this, all handy in one pane and witb lots of space, very elegant:

Cascades are great, but adding variety is always a big plus.

As for why not choosing other projects like Start8, I very much like the speed and the stability of classic shell, it's really handy. I'm using it in 8 with a hotkey to invoke and without a start button at all. If I end its process in device manager, it doesn't stop working unlike others' menus that fail. Classic Shell pops-up instantly and even offers me sounds, as well as tons of customizations - unlike other start projects. Good, fast and customizable search, bugs free, so why should I switch to Start8?